Fairest #3 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (story), Phil Jiminez (pencils), Andy Lanning & Mark Farmer (inks), Andrew Dalhouse (colors)

The Story: You’re never too old—or tyrannical—for a good story.

The Review: Three months into this series’ run, it’s still not clear what role it’s meant to serve in the grand scheme of the Fables universe.  Though ostensibly a showcase for the most attractive individuals fairy tales have to offer, this doesn’t seem quite enough to support an entire ongoing.  As a supplement to Fables proper, it hasn’t quite established how closely it intends to tie in with the events of its sister title.  In short, you really don’t know what to make of this book.

The first couple issues definitely gave you no help in figuring any of this out.  The plot has largely meandered, switching suddenly from Ali Baba’s hustling adventures to a random retelling of Sleeping Beauty.  We haven’t really gotten to know any of our protagonists to like them very much—assuming they’re likable in the first place (I’m looking at you, Panghammer).  And although the return of the Snow Queen, one of the major Fables villains, suggests bigger stakes than what we’ve seen, we’ve gotten little sense of danger or tension.

Fairest #2 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (writer), Phil Jiminez (penciller), Andy Lanning (inker), Andrew Dalhouse (colorist)

The Story: Sleeping Beauty, you say “We’ll have to snuggle” like it’s a bad thing.

The Review: When you have a successful series, it’s natural to start thinking of spin-off opportunities.  After all, more of a good thing is always a good thing, right?  In mainstream comics, all you need is that one big hit or a character gets some sudden, widespread attention, and before you know it, you suddenly have four Deadpool titles on the stands.  Only afterwards does anybody consider whether there’s even enough material to spread that thin.

No one can deny that Fables easily ranks among Vertigo’s most popular and successful titles.  And as I’ve mentioned any number of times, the series has plenty of characters and stories to draw upon.  In theory, a second ongoing series from the property sounds like a very good idea, particularly since Jack of Fables was such a hit on its own right.

I’m just not so sure one featuring the many princesses and princes of legend has quite the same zing to it.  Jack Horner has such a complicated, twisted personality and history that Willingham can pretty much write him forever and never run out of new things to discover.  Our “fairest” folk, on the other hand, are pretty well-known to begin with and while they’ve revealed edgier sides to themselves in Fables, they make better ensemble characters than protagonists.

Like her fellow princesses, Briar Rose is more than just a pretty face, but so far she seems like an amalgamation of all the traits her peers possess: a little toughness (“I can run you into the ground on my worst day!”), a little sassiness (“Don’t get fresh.”), and a little thoughtfulness (“…if we don’t do more to get warm it won’t matter if she’s the one who gets us.  We’ll be just as dead.”).  In other words, she doesn’t feel flat as a character, but she’s just not all that striking in any way.  Her co-lead, Ali Baba, isn’t much more personable, but he proves surprisingly sensitive here.  To Rose: “[You’re] not my property.  I don’t treat women that way, nor anyone else for that matter.”  Despite this, neither he nor Rose can manage more than a rather tired, begrudging chemistry,

Fairest #1 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (writer), Phil Jiminez (penciller), Andy Lanning (inker), Andrew Dalhouse (colorist)

The Story: Hustlin’ ain’t an easy biz, even for the Prince of Thieves.

The Review: I’ve said this at least once, that Fables just has so much going on at any one time, with so many different characters in all manner of places, that it just doesn’t seem like one title can contain them all.  This series is no stranger to spin-offs, what with Jack of Fables being a successful ongoing in its own right, as well as the highly popular Cinderella minis.  A showcase title of all the non-principal Fables, however, has been long past due.

Now, taking Fairest on its face—judging by its cover, if you will—it’d be a stretch to predict whether this series will serve as that showcase.  Not that there’s anything wrong with a title of featuring all the lovely ladies (and gentlemen) from the Fables canon; as a lover of the original Kingdom Hearts, I can’t help feeling fascinated with the idea of seeing all these good-looking people, stars in their original incarnations, learn to live in peace and humility with each other.

Over time, it seems most of the Fable princesses and princes have grown enough to shrug off the cloak of their nobility.  A good thing, too; if Ali Baba, who bears only an ironic form of princeship, is any indication, the pride and self-concern of these people in their raw personalities would have been unbearable as a group.  Actually, even one on his own might not be the most tolerable person to hang around with, either.  Ali may redeem himself in part by his chops for swordsmanship and sneaking around, but such outright greed isn’t exactly a compelling quality for a protagonist—especially nowadays, when money is such a touchy issue in real life.

Another reason why this issue doesn’t quite capture your heart is the storytelling here is more straightforward than nearly everything Willingham’s ever done on Fables.  In fact, you can’t help noticing it evokes an almost Shrekish tone, mixed with a bit of Princess Bride, from its emphasis on pure action-adventure with plenty of hit-or-miss comedy thrown in.  By now, the fantasy spoof is a genre all its own, so you won’t be blown away seeing yet another series with fairy tale characters anachronistically making smart remarks using modern-day American lingo (Jonah the bottle imp: “If magic were moolah, a genie would be Bill Gates, or George Soros, where I’d be just some poor wage-slave two months behind on the car payment.”).

Adventure Comics #523 – Review

By: Paul Levitz & Phil Jimenez (storytellers), Andy Lanning (inker), Hi-Fi (colorist)

The Story: These ain’t your mama’s Legionnaires—they like to fight hard, and party hard.  And do it on their parents’ money, apparently.  Kids these days…

The Review: Bringing in a team of unknowns can be a risky, even redundant move, especially in the overpopulated universes of mainstream superhero comics.  There’s bound to be outrage over the neglect of established characters in favor of those who may turn out to be nothing better than thinly veiled copies of what’s already been done.  Still, new characters can inject fresh energy onto titles even when they’re raw, and it’s just plain fun to speculate on their possible evolutions.

Adventure Comics’ set of rookies breathes new life into the title—a good thing.  Since the futuristic team has returned to its Silver Age continuity, under the helm of Levitz, its veteran writer, the Legion seems a bit creaky with age when it should be appealing to a younger generation of devotees.  No one can tell if an all-new cast of young characters will do the job, but the interest they generate in their first issue looks and feels promising.

Levitz has clear direction in mind for these kids, allowing them to express their distinctive voices throughout the issue, though the focus lands mostly on a select number of the bunch.  Levitz wisely uses the newest recruit, Glorith, as a cipher to guide you through the setting and dynamic of the title.  Each snippet of dialogue reveals a layer to the character speaking, and they bounce off each other very well, making for a very lively sounding issue.

As strong as the dialogue can be in this issue, there are still a few weak links.  Levitz still overly relies on telling you straight up what’s happening.  The gimmick can really start to grate on your nerves during the action sequences, where lines like “Accelerating my own metabolism makes you sound so dreary—but it makes this easy!” sounds not only awkward, but ridiculously corny.  It’s a very old-school style from Levitz, which feels somewhat unnatural and melodramatic.